It’s been a rough few months for Remedy thanks to FBC: Firebreak, but the future looks bright on the games front. Not only do we have Control 2 to look forward to, but the Max Payne 1+2 remake is also still on the way, and a positive, albeit somewhat vague, update on the project suggests we might not be waiting for it much longer.
Remedy published its most recent quarterly report this week, its first since CEO Tera Virtala stepped down. In a webcast that accompanied the report, interim CEO Markus Mäki informed investors that the remake is “tracking toward the milestone goals” (thanks, RockstarIntel).
Max Payne 1+2 Remake Keeps Hitting Its Milestones, Which Might Mean It Releases In 2026
See, told you it was vague. However, confirmation from Remedy that the Max Payne remake is on track suggests that the game might be here by the end of 2026. Remedy previously explained that once a game is in full production, it takes around one to two years before it enters a six-month period of beta testing. At that point, if all is well, the game will be ready for release.
As of September 2025, the Max Payne 1+2 remake has been in full production for 15 months. That means, if all is going to plan, as Mäki suggests, the Max Payne project will be ready for its beta testing period any day now, potentially before the end of the year. That will be followed by six months of beta testing and then, hopefully, we’ll all be playing the remake by this time next year.
Remedy
There are a lot of ifs, buts, and estimates involved here, of course. For starters, the estimates hinge on Remedy’s process still being the same one to two-year cycle it has used for previous games. There’s also a very real chance that even though Max Payne has been hitting its milestones up until now, the project hits a speed bump between now and the end of its development.
There’s also the Rockstar of it all. Remedy and Rockstar worked together on the Max Payne games, and they’re working together again on the remakes. Remedy’s now-former CEO even admitted that it doesn’t have any control over when we might see the Max Payne remake for the first time since Rockstar is in charge of marketing.
That could mean even if the remake collection is ready to go by 2026, Rockstar might want to save it until 2027. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but GTA 6 will release next year if all goes to plan. There’s even a chance its May release date gets pushed to later in the year. If that happens, Rockstar won’t want to launch Max Payne at the same time just so it can get swallowed up by its own juggernaut.
Released
July 23, 2001
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Violence
Publisher(s)
Gathering of Developers
Engine
MaxFX
Franchise
Max Payne
